Post Your Weekly Schedule

Remember back in the day when the job you worked had a wall calendar with everyone’s hours on it? By recreating that calendar on your refrigerator door, you can let everyone in the household - including you - know your weekly work schedule.

Schedules have a nasty name because we are used to having to adhere to other people’s schedules. Putting our noses to someone else’s grindstone feels like slavery to us work-at-home types. But putting our noses to our own grindstone, while it may look the same, is actually completely different: it’s freedom. We’ve all heard that freedom isn’t free. The price of being a work-at-home mom is self-discipline. When you lack it, the earnings won’t happen and you’ll find yourself tethered again to someone’s else grindstone in no time.

Writing your schedule in your planner isn’t good enough. Post it where the whole family can see it. First, it’ll hold you accountable to the hours. Not only do I work my hours more consistently when they are posted on the fridge, I am more apt to stop working at the designated time. It’s my way of showing my family that the time I spend with them is important. When the kids see my times clearly posted, they are more likely to wait until quitting time to ask me some question. Fewer interruptions mean that I can get more work done.

I found that just saying I am going to work the same hours every day didn’t work. First, unless it’s written down, it isn’t real to the kids. Second, my brain fought it because working at home should come with the added benefit of flexibility. Third, unless it’s written down, it isn’t real to me either. Now, I think twice before heading to the grocery store or agreeing to help someone out during working hours.

The calendar you use doesn’t need to be elaborate or expensive. I use a dollar-store monthly planner. I removed the heavy plastic cover so that it would hang with a couple of magnets on the fridge door. I like that I don’t have to fill in the calendar dates as I would with a dry erase board. I fill in my schedule weekly, usually on Sundays.

A posted, written schedule is just one tool to help you reap the benefits - and earnings - of working from home. When it comes down to it, the only freedom that comes with working from home is being your own boss. But with it, you can choose how many hours you work and how much money you earn. From there, you pay the appropriate price with self-discipline and hard work.